Throughout history, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has struggled for its independence. The independent state of Bosnia emerged as early as in the 12th Century when it was formerly known as Banate of Bosnia. In the 14th Century, it came to be the Kingdom of Bosnia. A century and a half later, the Kingdom of Bosnia was occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Ultimately, 500 years of Ottoman occupation largely influenced the culture and the religion of Bosnian people. As the Ottoman Empire was slowly losing its control over European territories and North Africa, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was taking a more influential part in European affairs and became a large colonial power within Europe. As a result of the Congress of Berlin, Bosnia was annexed into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In 1914, the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo by members of “Mlada Bosna” - a group funded by the Black Hand, a secret military society centered in Serbia. After this, Austria-Hungary declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia, which was one of the many factors sparking the breakout of World War I. During the interwar period, Bosnia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and after the tragedies of World War II, Bosnia was granted republic status under the newly formed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), ruled by Josip Broz Tito. Bosnia remained part of SFRY until the Bosnian War (1992-1995). The Bosnian War was one of a series of armed conflicts that led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia fell apart, piece by piece, republic by republic. While some republics, such as Macedonia, gained its independence without much destruction, Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered huge losses. The United States' CIA estimated 156,500 civilian deaths and around 81,500 troops were killed. Apart from human loses, the war destroyed much of the industry and infrastructure. The rmed conflict ended in November 1995, after Slobodan Milosevic (President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), Franjo Tudjman (President of Croatia) and Alia Izetbegovic (President of BiH) a conference in Dayton. The Bosnian War was officially over on Dec. 14 1995 when representatives of all three ethnic groups (Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks) signed the Dayton Agreement in Paris. While the Dayton Agreement officially ended the war and helped establish relatively stable state institutions, after twenty years, it is still up for question to what extent the agreement allowed BiH to move beyond ethnic segregation. As a result of the Dayton Agreement Annex 4, the Constitution of BiH was constructed; a key component of the agreement was the delineation of the Inter-Entity Boundary Line. The state of BiH is very decentralized due to its division into two highly autonomous entities, The Federation of BiH and the Republic of Serbs. The central government has a rotating State Presidency, a constitutional court, and a central bank. By rotating the State Presidency three representatives (Serb, Croat, and Bosniak) collectively serve as heads of the state. Together they serve a four-year term, rotating every eight months to ensure equality. Today, BiH is arguably one of the most corrupt European states with an extremely dysfunctional central government. Many argue this is a consequence of decentralization and the formation of a constitutional government. In the last decade, most influential parties made many attempts to change components of the constitution for the sake of improving government functionality. Not much progress has been made, however, raising international pressure might initiate some changes. One of the popular issues in BiH politics is the potential secession from the Republic of Serbs (RS), advocated by Milorad Dodik, the leader of SNSD. He claims that secession of RS is not likely to be a focus of RS political agenda anytime soon, and the Republic of Serbs will not wait for to change to happen. On Nov. 13 of this year, a conference was held in Mostar, where representatives of the leading political parties in BiH expressed interest in altering the Constitution, and the organization of the government. However, all potential and suggested changes differed among the ethnic group leaders, and as a result, there is little hope that a consensus, or a political decision, will be reached in the near future. This article was written by Milica Gligic. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Kseferovic on Wikimedia Commons